The bubbling volcano of teeming old Jerusalem

Haaretz
By Nadav Shragai
Twenty months after the Camp David summit, the present government's approach to Jerusalem is the exact opposite of Ehud Barak's. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejects any negotiations over Jerusalem. A few months ago, some government professionals met him to discuss various aspects of division already at work splitting the city. Sharon shouted at them: "For me, gentlemen, you will work hard to reunite it." Barak and his foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, had the opposite view. They believed that since the city is already divided in many ways, it should be institutionalized in the framework of a permanent agreement with the Palestinians. Barak went to Camp David with three alternative solutions to the Jerusalem problem, all prepared by a team at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

The common denominator of all three proposals was that Arab-populated areas should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority. That would correct the demographic balance, whether moderately or dramatically, in those areas that remained Israeli. Ultimately, Barak agreed to an even more dramatic proposal, based on the division of the city as proposed by then-president Bill Clinton - what's Jewish goes to the Jews, what's Arab goes to the Arabs.

On this 35th Jerusalem Day today, the JIIS, which has become the main non government organization dealing with Jerusalem in its varying aspects, has issued a 200-page report on the Old City. The report is filled with maps and alternative proposals for the city, but it is particularly striking for the enormous amount of sheer data. The institute's Old City committee, headed by Prof. Ruth Lapidot, a former legal advisor to the foreign ministry, mapped in detail the city's 879 dunams of emotions, symbols, and memories.

While the committee (Lapidot, Amnon Ramon, Yisrael Kimche, Ora Ahimeir, Rotem Giladi, Dr. Yiftah Zilberman, Dr. Maya Hoshen, Prof. Avraham Friedman, and Reuven Merhav, with appendices by other experts) says it prepared the report "because the Old City could become a subject in future negotiations," it is not their proposed alternative solutions, which have mostly been published in the past, that is the innovation in their work. Instead it's the sheer compilation of the data - an unprecedented information resource for anyone interested in the state of the Old City and its future. Here, therefore, is a tip-of-the-fork summary of some of the most salient and interest information.

A large Muslim majority

Despite nearly unbearable overcrowding, the Old City is a much sought after place of residence, particularly for weaker segments of the Arab population. The population grew 36 percent between 1967 to 1995. That's an additional 8,500 people. While that is only a quarter of the overall growth of the Arab population of east Jerusalem, it is still more than would be expected in a profoundly overcrowded area.

Some 32,500 people live in the four quarters of the Old City. Some 69 percent are Muslim, 12 percent Jewish, and 17 percent are Christians of various denominations. Not what it used to be The distribution of the ethnic groups does not exactly match the quarters, as it used to. The number of Muslims in the Christian Quarter has doubled since 1967, reaching some 1,000. The number of Jews in the Jewish Quarter grew only by 22 people between 1983 and 1995, reaching 2,900. But the number of Jews living in the Muslim, Christian, and Armenian Quarters grew by 400 during the same period, reaching 500 in the Muslim Quarter and 300 in the Christian Quarter and less than 100 in the Armenian Quarter. Altogether, some 3,800 Jews live in the Old City. Some 100 Muslim families live in the Jewish Quarter, mostly on the edges, in apartments that were designated for expropriation after the 1967 war, as part of the plan for the Jewish Quarter, but were never taken from their owners.

The Lapidot committee's report believes that the population in the Old City must be done on an equitable basis. In other words, "If Jews are allowed to live in non-Jewish quarters, non-Jews should be allowed to live in the Jewish Quarter."

Crowded, very crowded

Population density in the Old City is practically the highest in the country, with 36 people per dunam. But if only the residential area is counted, and public spaces - religious, schools, markets, and other open areas - are discounted, density rises to some 70 people in a dunam, making it one of the most densely populated places in the world. Some 6,000 families live in the Old City. Muslims are 68 percent, Christians 24 percent, and Jews 8 percent. The average Muslim household has 5.3 people, Jewish 4, and Christian 3.7 The Old City has some 5,600 housing units, representing 3.5 percent of all Jerusalem's housing units, filling an area of about 250,000 square meters. The Muslim Quarter is the largest, with 3,300 units. The Christian Quarter has 1,150 units, the Armenian 600, and the Jewish Quarter 550. The average size of an apartment in the Old City is smaller than the overall average for the city. Jews have the largest apartments on average - 75 square meters. In the Muslim Quarter the average size of an apartment is 40 square meters., 42 in the Christian, and 54 in the Armenian.

No planning

Anyone trying to bring any sense of organized planning into the Old City is in for a shock. More than 150 zoning plans have been prepared over the years, but the report, which details all the various types of plans, says that they have nothing to do with reality. "These 150 plans," says the report, "do not reflect in any way the state of planning and construction in the Old City. Inside the Old City's walls there is large-scale construction, practically without any supervision or monitoring by the municipality. The main construction activity is mostly illegal, and often involves destroying and changing the features of sites designated or recommended for preservation. The constitution takes place in courtyards, cellars, in every corner, to meet the pressure of the population's growth. Most of the construction is by individuals, but church institutions, Jews, and Muslims act without much consideration for the principles of preservation. One of the most outstanding examples for that is the construction at the Holy Sepulchre."

A sanctity meter

Holy places have a tendency to proliferate. Especially in Jerusalem. And most especially in the Old City. IN 1949, a list of 30 holy sites was given to the UN. Fifty years later, in 2000, a team of three - a Jewish Israeli, an Armenian Christian and a Muslim Palestinian - prepared a list with no fewer than 326 holy sites. The process of sanctification of a site during such a short period is one of the details in the data base being made available by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies to policymakers. They've also created a kind of Sanctity Meter, categorizing eight degrees of holiness for sites. Leading the list are the sites named in various international treaties, such as bilateral treaties between Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, as well as holy sites as designated by the Israeli government ministries, and holy sites with world recognition, like the Temple Mount. In eighth place are "graves and other memorials."

Endangered site

In September 1981, UNESCO's World Heritage Center accepted the Kingdom of Jordan's request to list the Old City and its walls in the list of sites of worldwide cultural heritage, even though Jordan wasn't in control of the city by then. During the debate on Jordan's request, the commission refused to hear the Israeli side. In December 1982, at Jordan's request, Jerusalem was listed as an endangered cultural heritage site, because of growing urbanization in the Old City causing grave damage. In 1995, the list of world cultural heritage sites Jerusalem was no longer listed as Jordanian. Instead, Jerusalem was listed as an independent entity, without a state. On October 1999, Israel joined the UNESCO treaty for the protection of world cultural heritage, giving in a list of 23 such sites in Israel. The list included Jerusalem, but without any details.

Binational police

"Terms like `reason,' `natural order,' `tolerance,' and `patience' do not apply in the Old City," writes former Jerusalem police commander Arye Amit in an appendix to the report. He compares the square kilometer of the Old City to "a volcano, with the lava bubbling away inside, threatening to burst." Lapidot's committee examined a number of ideas for policing the Old City proposed by Amit and Dr. Yiftah Zilberman as alternatives, including:

* Two separate police forces, Israeli and Palestinian, cooperating between them
* A special police guard for the holy sites, to include Israelis, Palestinians, and an independent international force
* A special police force just for the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, headquartered at the Mahkame, on the plaza, where the Israeli police and Border Patrol now have a base. Inside the walls of the Haram a Sharif-Temple Mount, a Palestinian force, under Israeli supervision, would patrol. Security on the walls of the Haram-Temple Mount would be provided by a joint Israeli-Palestinian force. Israeli police would operate outside the walls of the Temple Mount.
* Community patrols focused on contact with the residents. The police would be determined by the ethnicity of the quarter they patrol.
* A special tourism police to be based in all the quarters

Dividing authority, not sovereignty

The report looks at eight different possible solutions to the issue of sovereignty for the Old City and outlines them all, but the two that the committee believes have the best chances of success are:
* Suspension of demands for full territorial sovereignty, while dividing authority according to territorial, personal, and functional purposes. One version of this solution says that God is the sovereign in the Old City.
* Each side presents its demands for sovereignty, and the other sides rejects it. Despite the differences over the issue of sovereignty, the sides agree to a detailed division of authority between them. The committee rejects any notion of dividing sovereignty inside the Old City, calling it an "undesirable solution that would damage the function and special nature of the Old City."

Christians moving out

The study says that one of the slogans that spread in Bethlehem during the first intifada was "After Saturday comes Sunday..." which means that after their victory over the Jews, the Muslims would go after the Christians. Inside the Old City, Christian Palestinians sometimes feel threatened as a result of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and Islamic Movement leaders who regard Christians as fifth columnists and enemies of Islam. Estimates say that some 13,000 Christians live in Jerusalem, but their numbers are dwindling. In 1967 they were 30 percent of the population of the city. Now they are only 17 percent.

Haredim moving in

The prohibition by Jewish Quarter Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl to sell secular newspapers in the quarter is a sign of the changing demographics in the area. When the quarter was first repopulated by Jews after 1967, 60 percent were religious and 40 percent were secular. Over the last decade the numbers have changed dramatically. Some 70 percent are Haredim, 25 percent religious-nationalist, and only 5 percent are secular. As a result, the average Jewish family in the Old City is very large. There has also been a dramatic rise in the number of Jewish religious schools in the Old City.

Half the land is Muslim

Yisrael Kimche, from the Lapidot committee, classified four types of land ownership in the Old City: Church-owned, Muslim Waqf-owned, Jewish-owned (meaning state-owned), and privately owned Arab property. Land ownership in the Old City is extremely complex. In effect, most of the property is not registered, but rather owned by virtue of possession. There are many reasons for this - no organized land registry, overcrowded construction, no listings in the Tabu, population movement from area to area inside the Old City, wars and various other events, and of course hundreds of years spent under a variety of rulers. The division of ownership is not precise, but nonetheless, the picture shows that of the 879 dunams of the Old City, 271 dunam are owned by the churches, 200 dunam is privately owned by individual Arabs, the waqf owns 223 dunam and Jews, through the state, own 185. Nearly half the land is owned by Muslims, whether through religious trusts or privately and nearly all the land in Jewish hands is owned by the state - 152 dunam in the Jewish Quarter, 21 dunam at and around David's Tower, 2 dunam at Herod's Gate, and the rest along the northern wall of the Old City. Based on current trends, there are scenarios for the future. Jews will probably continue to purchase properties in a piecemeal patter in the Muslim Quarter, says the report. There is a trend of purchases along Rehov Hagai, in an effort to create contiguity to the Herod's Gate area. The committee strongly recommends that the Old City finally undergo a process of proper land and ownership registration.

The waqf's revival

Like other parts of united Jerusalem, there are networks of Palestinian political control in the Muslim Quarter. Fatah-related elements have established clubs and social institutions in the Muslim Quarter and they bring Palestinian Authority influence to bear in the quarter. The PA has also assumed control over a network of waqfs (religious trusts) essentially annexing them to its Ministry of Trusts. Therefore, while residents of the Muslim Quarter have Israeli identity cards, and live in sovereign Israeli territory, but in their daily lives, they are often required to deal with the Palestinian Authority. In most Middle East countries, the waqf, as an institution, is in decline, and has even faded away in some. But in Jerusalem, and in the Old City in particular, it is flourishing. Dr. Yitzhak Reitner says the waqf's revival in Jerusalem is a result of the government's granting autonomy to the Muslim community, making the waqf a unifying factor for the community in dealing with a non-Muslim government, and the utilization of the waqf as an alternative to Palestinian authority in Jerusalem after 1967. The Islamic Trust has 65 mosques in East Jerusalem, two colleges, two high schools, an elementary school and it conducts night schools for teaching Koran. And some 61 percent of the 90 religious trusts formed between 1967 and 1990, are family owned and operated

EU demands Israel halt all construction in West Bank, East Jerusalem

Haaretz 08:28 16/03/2008
By Reuters

European Union leaders on Friday condemned Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in a West Bank settlement, and called on Israel to act swiftly to keep peace efforts alive. "The EU reiterates that settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law," the bloc's presidency said in a statement after a summit of EU leaders. "Settlement activity prejudges the outcome of final status negotiations and threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution. The European Council therefore urges Israel to take immediate action in particular on settlements and outposts," the leaders said.

Israel said on Sunday that plans to build a total of 750 homes in Givat Ze'ev, a settlement near Jerusalem, were being revived. The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian terrorist killed eight students at Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. EU leaders condemned that attack but said: "While recognizing Israel's legitimate right to self defense, the European Council calls for an immediate end to all acts of violence." The European Union is part of the Quartet of international mediators trying to promote peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of this year, as agreed in Annapolis, Maryland, last November. "Despite the difficulties that the process has recently experienced, the European Council welcomes the intention of the parties to resume their negotiations and looks forward to an early meeting of Quartet principals," the statement said. EU leaders also said they were "deeply concerned by the unsustainable humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for the controlled and sustained reopening of all crossings in and out of Gaza for both humanitarian reasons and commercial flows."

Police arrest rabbi for 'inciting Palestinians' in East Jerusalem

Haaretz 01:01 14/03/2008

By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel Police on Thursday arrested Arik Ascherman, the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, for "inciting Palestinians to oppose the police" in East Jerusalem. Heated tensions between residents of the Silwan village in East Jerusalem and the Israel Police erupted over excavation works that have recently began in the village. The excavations are being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and are sponsored by Elad association, which promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem. Silwan residents say the excavation work is being carried out directly underneath their homes, and have proceeded to set up a demonstration tent on a private lot belonging to one of the village residents. A few confrontations subsequently broke out, and the residents maintained that the police deliberately harassed them.
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On Wednesday another spat occurred between the local residents and settlers on behalf of Elad, and the police detained Ascherman for questioning. The police requested that Ascherman promise to stay away from Silwan for 15 days and upon his refusal to oblige, he was arrested and will be brought in front of a judge Friday for his remand to be extended. Ascherman's attorney on Thursday said the investigator had accused her client, a well-known human rights' activist, of encouraging Palestinians to oppose police forces, and also of preventing the evacuation of a wounded settler to hospital. The attorney further stated that Ascherman adamantly denies the allegations. "This is a ridiculous arrest," his attorney said. "In the past, the court has refused to adhere to police demands for issuing restraining orders against Israeli activists in Silwan."

Dichter to police: Demolish home of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist

Haaretz 17:19 12/03/2008

By Jonathan Lis and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter instructed police on Wednesday to demolish the house belonging to the family of the Israeli Arab terrorist who gunned down eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem last Thursday. The house is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Following the order, police asked the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of the move, and to consider an alternative option of sealing the house.

"I very much hope that in the end that legal establishment will allow us to carry out [the demolition], but without it, nothing can be done," Dichter said at a Knesset session. Alaa Abu Dhaim, the gunman, killed seven teenage boys and one 26-year-old, as well as wounding nine others, when he burst into the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Dichter also said that police have not destroyed the mourning tent erected for the terrorist since the tent itself is not an offense, and "therefore no [law] enforcement is needed." "I don't suppose the MKs want to live according to Jordanian law," he said, referring to Jordan's refusal last week to allow Abu Dhaim's family to erect a public mourning tent for him in Amman. Dichter maintained that the police are acting according to authorized legal opinions, and not according to their desires and wishes. "Law enforcement is needed when the law is violated. The mourning tent was not taken down because according to the law it cannot be destroyed. I do not recommend interpreting the word 'identification' [with terror] in any other way than the law allows."

Police holding body of yeshiva terrorist in row over funeral

Haaretz 09:32 11/03/2008

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Police are holding the body of the terrorist who attacked the Merkaz Harav yeshiva last week, pending agreement with his family that the funeral would not turn into a show of support for his actions. Police had initially agreed to release the body of the gunman, a resident of East Jerusalem, for burial on Monday. However, shortly before the planned release of the body, the police learned that a large number of people and media had assembled at the cemetery. Police officials decided in response not to hand over the body, saying that the family had breached the terms of their agreement. A proposal that the funeral be held late at night to prevent a large showing was later rejected by police, who claimed the family had broken its promise not to leak the news.

Officers arrested two youths from the terrorist's East Jerusalem neighborhood Monday night on suspicion of putting up Hamas and Hezbollah posters at the mourners' tent erected by the gunman's family. The youths were not members of the terrorist's family and were not involved in the shooting, police said. Probe into initial police response Police will next week release findings regarding their response to last week's terror attack at the Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. A gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight students and injured dozens in the attack. The inquiry is focused on the actions of the police forces that rushed to the incident. It will pay close attention to the response of the first policeman who arrived on the scene; he decided to wait for reinforcement before entering the seminary. The policeman, a rooky who entered the police force only a few months ago, was carrying a gun when the incident occurred. The panel will also examine the policeman's decision to equip Israel Defense Forces soldier, Captain David Shapira, with a police cap to prevent security forces for mistaking him for another terrorist. Shapira entered the building alone armed with his army-issued rifle; he subsequently shot the terrorist dead.

Israel cements ownership of Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City

Haaretz 06:44 11/03/2008

By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent

More than 40 years after it gained control of East Jerusalem, the State of Israel is now registering Jewish-owned property in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter as such, in a bid to legally assert Jewish and Israeli control over the area the Israel Defense Forces seized in the 1967 Six-Day War. The registration is the result of a lengthy inspection, which was initiated after the Housing Ministry decided to register the property under Jewish owners five years ago. The registration process is being managed for the state by the government-owned Firm for the Development of the Jewish Quarter. CEO Nissim Arazi says the process is complex and involves many difficulties. According to Arazi, some of the difficulty owes to the fact that many buildings and plots inside the Jewish Quarter were registered as part of other plots. The process of registering buildings is particularly complex in the Jewish Quarter, Arazi says, because real estate there is divided into four subdivisions of ownership: bloc, plot, sub-plot and building. All other real-estate assets in Israel are divided into the first three criteria only.

Over the past five years, the buildings in the Jewish Quarter have all been renumbered and mapped ahead of the registration process. So far, more than 120 buildings out of a total of 600 have been registered by Jewish owners in the Land Administration. The process revealed a large number of building violations. Many residents built cellars under their houses to expand them - without bothering to receive approval. Arazi said the process of registration in not meant to find violations. "Registering these real-estate assets has national and historic significance," he told Haaretz. The inspection process and registration served to increase the value of the assets surveyed, with prices increasing in direct relation to the asset's proximity to the Western Wall. The quarter itself, which stretches across 133 dunam (approximately 40 acres), was largely destroyed during Israel's War of Independence in 1948. It remained under Jordanian rule until it was seized by Israel. The quarter constitutes 15 percent of the entire area of the Old City and has undergone massive restoration and renovation over the past 40 years. But Jews have also bought property elsewhere inside the Old City's three other quarters; the Armenian, Christian and Muslim quarters. The Old City is 870 dunam in area. Twenty-four percent of it belongs to the Waqf, which is a form of endowment in Islam, typically devoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. Twenty-eight percent of the Old City belongs to private Arab residents, while the state owns some 19 percent of the lands in the area, or 170 dunam. Christian institutions hold 29 percent of the property in the Old City. The assets are naturally not arranged according to ownership, which is to say the Old City is checkered with buildings belonging to all these various owners. In a recently-published research, Dr. Israel Kimchi from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and several colleagues identify a "trend of Jews purchasing property across the Muslim Quarter," which is the largest and most populous of the four quarters, situated in the northeastern corner of the Old City. According to Kimchi's research, the acquisition of land there is designed to create contiguity of Jewish-owned buildings all the way up to state-owned land around the Flower Gate area. Like the other three quarters of the Old City, the Muslim quarter had a mixed population of Jews as well as Muslims and Christians until the riots of 1929, and was previously called the Mixed Quarter. Today the Muslim Quarter is home to a few dozen Jewish families and a few yeshivas. At the same time, Kimchi's team point to a "penetration of Muslim residents into the Christian Quarter," which is situated in the north-western corner of the Old City. He also says these trends and others will probably mean that some buildings, which are defined as religious institutions will receive a different designation. "Some of the residential areas in the Christian Quarter will become religious institutions or hotels, as the number of Christian residents within the quarter continues to dwindle," he says.

Likud MK to propose ban on public mourning for terrorists

Haaretz 17:44 10/03/2008

By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Likud MK Gilad Erdan said Sunday he intends to propose a bill that would ban mourners' tents or any other public form of mourning or remembrance for terrorists. The proposal comes after police said they could not prevent the erection of a mourners' tent in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber honoring Ala Abu Dhaim, who carried out Thursday's terror attack in a Jerusalem yeshiva that killed eight, most of them teenagers. "The State of Israel acts more like a suicidal democracy than a democracy that is defending itself," said Erdan.

"It is our obligation to send a clear message that whoever murders innocent civilians will not only not receive any financial benefits from the state, but also will not be commemorated in public," said Erdan. Meanwhile, six right-wing Israeli activists were detained Sunday afternoon as they prepared to march to the terrorist's home in Jabel Mukaber, where a mourning tent had been set up on Friday. A squad of Israel Police declared the march an illegal gathering and detained several participants.

Knesset speaker calls for demolition of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist's home

Haaretz 22:10 10/03/2008

By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to order the demolition of the mourner's tent set up by the family of the terrorist that killed 8 yeshiva boys last week, as well as the demolition of his family's home. On Thursday, Ala Abu Dhaim walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem and began firing. Eight students were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack. The gunman was also killed. According to Itzik, who is currently serving as acting president while Shimon Peres is visiting France, she spoke to Mazuz and said "I know they won't try to stop it. It is not a legal question."

Itzik spoke while touring the Mercaz Harav yeshiva Monday evening. The head of the yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Shapira said "we must destroy the mourner's tent. This isn't normal. In any other place they would destroy it." Itzik replied "it is not a legal question at all. We must demolish the tent and the house." Earlier Monday, Itzik spoke before the Knesset and said "We mustn't politicize the mourning." "Out national unity has been put to the test and we mustn't fail it. This is not the time for partisanship, this is not the time to fight or make accusations," she concluded her speech, in which she called for the establishment of a national unity government.

Minister: No freeze on Jewish construction in E. J'lem

Haaretz 12:46 12/02/2008

By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and AP

Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim denied Tuesday reports that the government is barring new housing construction for Jews in East Jerusalem, saying Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's order to freeze all construction that does not have his personal approval applies only to the West Bank. On Monday, Jerusalem city manager Yair Ma'ayan told the Knesset Economics Committee that the government was holding up construction of hundreds of apartments in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem due to the negotiations with the Palestinians. "There is no delay, limitation, or suspension of the construction of Jewish neigbhorhoods in East Jerusalem," Boim told Israel Radio.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky also weighed in on the issue Tuesday, saying he "won't allow Jerusalem to be turned into an illegal outpost. Following the Annapolis conference last fall, several media reports about ongoing construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem angered the Palestinians and Americans. In response, Olmert ordered all building in the settlements frozen, including those settlements that are part of the greater Jerusalem area. But with regard to East Jerusalem, which was formally annexed to Israel in 1967, he merely ordered that he be kept informed of any building plans, and he recently promised Shas Party Chairman and Industry Minister Eli Yishai that there was no freeze on construction in the capital. At Monday's Economics Committee meeting, however, Ma'ayan said that the Housing Ministry has postponed marketing 750 apartments in East Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood and another 150 apartments in the Har Homa neighborhood. In both cases, he said, the ministry told him that Olmert had not yet approved the projects. Boim denied this, however, saying the tenders for the Pisgat Ze'ev construction were in the final stages of coordination with the Jerusalem Municipality, and that the tenders for Har Homa - which he said were for 360 units - would be published soon. Dov Gal, deputy director of the Housing Ministry's Jerusalem District, also denied the report, saying there was no order that construction in East Jerusalem needed approval from the government. But Ma'ayan said that Gal was behind the times - and several Knesset members said that Ma'ayan's statements had been confirmed to them by Boim himself. Gal did confirm that he had been ordered to freeze construction in the settlements around Jerusalem, including Efrat, Gush Etzion, Givat Ze'ev, Adam and Beitar Ilit. MK Uriel Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party), who requested Monday's meeting, said that altogether, the Housing Ministry has halted marketing of some 2,300 apartments in and around Jerusalem. In response, the Prime Minister's Office said that construction in East Jerusalem has not been frozen, but because of its diplomatic sensitivity, Olmert has asked to be informed of all building plans there, so that he will not be taken by surprise. After the meeting, Ma'ayan told Haaretz that despite this directive, the municipality is moving forward with plans to build some 10,000 apartments in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, including Ramot, Ramat Shlomo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Neveh Ya'akov, East Talpiot, Har Homa and Gilo. The largest of these calls for building some 4,000 apartments in Givat Hamatos, in the city's southern section. That plan is currently being discussed by the regional planning and building committee. Negative migration Nir Barkat, who heads the opposition in the Jerusalem city council, told the Economics Committee that the capital continues to suffer from a negative balance of migration, in part because of soaring apartment prices. This conclusion was echoed in a study by the Knesset's research division that was presented to the committee on Monday. The study also found that while all governments talk about developing Jerusalem, few actually do anything about it. Barkat, who belongs to Olmert's Kadima Party, also asked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to deny recent claims by Palestinian officials that Israel has already agreed to concessions in Jerusalem, including ceding the city's Arab neighborhoods to the Palestinians. Alternatively, if the reports are true, he demanded that she "reveal all the secret agreements on the floor of the Knesset." Livni's media advisor, Gil Messing, responded that the minister does not comment on reports about her talks with the Palestinians, and therefore refused to either confirm or deny that the future of Jerusalem had been discussed. But the Palestinian comments increased pressure on Shas to quit the government, as it has repeatedly pledged to leave the moment negotiations on Jerusalem begin.

Diplomat: U.S. firmly opposes all W. Bank, E. J'lem construction

Haaretz 14:02 15/01/2008

By Barak Ravid and Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondents

The United States clarified to Israel during U.S. President George Bush's visit this week that it disapproves of all building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank - including in the large settlement blocs, a senior Western diplomat said Tuesday. The diplomat added that Israel and the U.S. differ on their interpretation of the letter President Bush sent to former prime minister Ariel Sharon in April, 2004. "The letter refers to major population centers and not the settlement blocs, while stressing that everything must also be decided in the negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians," the diplomat said.

According to the diplomat, Bush is steadfast in his objection of building in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem. "The American government also opposes constuction due to the natural growth of the present settlers", he said. He added, however, that if progress is made on border issues it may help to resolve the settlement issue. "When the route of the permanent border becomes clearer, the locations where Israel can and cannot build will also be clearer." The diplomat also said that the U.S. supports the opening of the Gaza checkpoints, especially the Karni crossing, by manning them with forces subordinate to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. "The Bush administration is willing to examine creative ideas", the diplomat said, "the goal is to destabilize Hamas and the opening of checkpoints for the transfer of good would advance this goal." Israel begins constructing 60 new homes in East Jerusalem Meanwhile, construction has begun on another 60 housing units in the Jewish neighborhood of Maaleh Hazeitim, in East Jerusalem's Ras al-Amud section. Fifty-one Jewish families already live in the small neighborhood, built on land purchased 15 years ago by the American millionaire Irwin Moskowitz, patron of the Ateret Cohanim organization. The neighborhood's initial construction provoked an international storm in September 1997, and the United States pressured Israel not to go ahead with the plan. The pressure was rebuffed by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and backed by Jerusalem's mayor at the time, Ehud Olmert. The new construction, with a municipal permit, is being carried out by Kedumim 3000, a company headed by Nachman Zoldan, father of Ido Zoldan who was murdered two months ago in a terror attack near Kedumim. Right-wing activists ascribe great significance to widening Jewish construction in Ras al-Amud, and to realizing ownership of lots and buildings that it has managed to acquire in recent years in that vicinity. According to their thinking, Maaleh Hazeitim makes it harder to create a Palestinian territorial corridor, a sort of "safe passage" between the West Bank to the east, and the Temple Mount. In the past, Israeli-Palestinian talks included the idea of establishing such a corridor running through the old Jericho road, the Mount of Olives region, Motta Gur Street, up to the Lion's Gate and to the Temple Mount.

Palestinians slam Israeli move to build new homes in E. Jerusalem

Haaretz 18:29 06/12/2007

By The Associated Press

The Palestinians on Tuesday condemned an Israeli plan to build more than 300 new homes in a disputed East Jerusalem neighborhood, claiming that the move is undermining newly revived peace talks. Housing Ministry spokesman Kobi Bleich said 307 housing units would be build in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Israel captured the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Six-Day-War and annexed the area. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he sent an urgent message to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to block the project from moving forward. "This is undermining Annapolis," he said, referring to last week's U.S.-hosted summit, where Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace talks.
The two sides agreed to base their peace talks on the U.S.-backed road map, a peace plan that calls on Israel to halt all settlement construction. The Palestinians consider any construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be settlement activity. Israel says the settlement freeze does not apply to Jerusalem. "Israel makes a clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Israel has never made a commitment to limit our sovereignty in Jerusalem. Implementation of the first phase of the road map does not apply to Jerusalem." Har Homa is just inside the expanded city limits of Jerusalem, drawn after Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem days after the war, but no country recognized that. Since 1967, Israel has built a string of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, with about 180,000 residents. Har Homa, at the southern edge of the city line, is the newest.

Group 'Judaizing' East Jerusalem accused of withholding donation sources

Haaretz 21.11.2007
By Meron Rapoport
The registrar of associations is considering demanding the dissolution of the Elad association, which promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem. The registrar claims the association is refusing to divulge the sources of donations totaling over $7 million that Elad received in 2005. Elad representatives claim that all they know about the bodies that donated funds is their addresses, and that the association is not obligated to provide any additional information about its donors. Elad has been operating in East Jerusalem for about 20 years. It has acquired and received many properties belonging to Palestinians in Kfar Silwan, adjacent to the Old City, and manages the national park in the City of David on behalf of the state. In recent years, the association has invested many millions to finance the archaeological excavations undertaken by the Antiquities Authority in Silwan. Palestinians in Silwan contend that Elad has "taken over" substantial sections of the village.
Elad had revenues totaling NIS 41 million in 2005 - the last year it reported its figures to the registrar of associations. Of this sum, NIS 38 million came from donations. The association gave the registrar a list of all the donors who had given more than NIS 20,000, in keeping with the recently amended law designed to make donations more transparent. According to the list, however, the lion's share of the donations came from five undisclosed donors. Elad received a donation of $2 million from Farleigh International IT and a similar sum from Ovington World Wide Limited. Leiston Holdings donated $1.5 million to Elad, Dwide Limited gave the association $1.4 million, and a donation of $250,000 was received from Jacobson. This means that a total of over $7.1 million, or 75 percent, of Elad's revenues came from unknown sources. Farleigh International is the former name of Farleigh Consultants, a British investigations firm. This company's manager, David Bowen, told Haaretz he is unfamiliar with Elad and his company did not donate any funds to the association. Attempts to locate the other four donors were unsuccessful. According to government sources, businessmen originally from Russia are among the main donors to Elad. It is also worth noting that at an event held by Elad two years ago, in honor of its new visitors center in the City of David, the guests of honor included Lev Leviev and Roman Abramovich, the owner of the Chelsea soccer club. Representatives of the two would not say whether they made donations to Elad. Despite a number of requests to the association concerning the identity of its donors, Elad has continued to refuse and did not even submit a request to preserve their confidentiality, as permitted by law. As a result, about two weeks ago the registrar of associations announced that this refusal was "liable to arouse a suspicion that the association is not conducting itself in keeping with the Associations Law and the principles of proper management, and could be used as a basis for the registrar to exercise his discretion and withdraw the association's proper management certification or even to demand its dissolution." Such a move would prevent Elad from receiving government budgeting. Following Haaretz's queries, Elad responded in writing that according to the law, the association was obligated to provide only the name of donor and the date a donation was received. "The demands made by the registrar of associations are invalid, made without authorization," followed Elad's written response, which also declared that the association has no other details concerning the donors that gave the $7 million, "apart from their addresses." Elad further claimed that Haaretz's communication to the registrar of associations is "part of a smear campaign that has chosen to use the registrar of associations as a tool to harm the association."

Amendment to Basic Law on Jerusalem shakes up coalition

Haaretz 07:58 15/11/2007

By Shahar Ilan and Zvi Zrahia, Haaretz Correspondents
tags: Annapolis, Gideon Sa'ar
Officially, the government took no stand Wednesday on the matter of amending the Basic Law on Jerusalem, and the coalition allowed its members to vote their conscience. Most Kadima MKs stayed away. In other words: at least for the preliminary reading, the coalition expressed its blessing more than its objection to the bill seeking, ahead of the Annapolis conference, to hobble the government and prevent it from making concessions in Jerusalem. Six ministers backed the bill. Only Labor's ministers voted against it, including Raleb Majadele, who announced the day before in the same place that Israeli law does not apply to the Temple Mount. Under the amendment, proposed by MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) and 25 other MKs, a majority of 80 MKs would be required to concede any territory or jurisdiction in Jerusalem. Meretz-Yahad chair Yossi Beilin said that the fact that Sa'ar does not make do with the simple majority of 61 shows that he knows his position has become a minority view. Beilin's statement may be true with regard to the public, but in the Knesset Sa'ar won a large majority of 54 versus 24.
What was the message Sa'ar sought to convey? "Everyone will know from one end of the world to the other, everywhere - in Ramallah, in Washington, in London and in Moscow - that Israel's Knesset expressed its faith in Jerusalem as the eternal capital that is not in dispute." Beilin said he is troubled by that self-same message: "This government is not worthy of ruling on this issue if it does not take a stand and tell the opposition, 'Do not bind our hands.' I am ashamed of Israel's position." What are the odds of this bill passing in first, second and third readings? Slim. This government cannot afford it - Sa'ar presumably remembers that in the next term, he could be in a government that has to give up parts of Jerusalem. In the hour after the amendment passed, it looked like there was no coalition in the land. One after another, the coalition parties dumped coalition discipline, resulting in a series of defeats for the government in subsequent votes on various bills. This was the coalition's first day of defeats since the winter session opened and Kadima's Eli Aflalo took over as coalition chair. MK Reuven Rivlin of Likud said in response to Wednesday's events that Wednesdays, when bills go to the plenum for preliminary vote, are days that dismantle coalitions. Rivlin recalled that the Likud under Ariel Sharon took advantage of Wednesdays to topple Ehud Barak's government. When Sharon came to power in 2001, he made a point of sitting in the plenum on Wednesdays, to forestall defections. After three defeats, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in the plenum and spoke with Shas chairman Eli Yishai. The coalition was reestablished. The defeats stopped immediately.

J'lem municipality advancing plan to build 1,900 apartments for Arabs

Haaretz 05:53 26/09/2007
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

The Jerusalem municipality is moving forward with a plan to build some 1,900 apartments for Arabs in the Issawiya neighborhood as part of the city's master plan. First proposed by the Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights organization, the plan is intended, among other things, to retroactively legalize illegal construction in the neighborhood and enable new housing units to be built to accommodate its natural growth. The municipality's planning authorities approved it back in 2005. Issawiya's population is estimated at 12,000, and is expected to grow to some 18,500 by 2020. The neighborhood's shortage of land and building permits is acute, and as in other Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the city has issued numerous demolition orders for its illegally constructed houses.

Bimkom planners and architects planned the new housing in Issawiya together with the local population and on the basis of its needs. The plan could thus become a model for other neighborhoods of the city. The neighborhood is located at the foot of Jerusalem's French Hill, just northwest of the road to Ma'aleh Adumim. "The building plan in Issawiya is one of 20 plans in north Jerusalem that have been approved and 30 others that are about to be approved," Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said in a statement yesterday. "These plans are a breakthrough in improving East Jerusalem residents' status as equal citizens of the capital and will improve their quality of life."

ILA leasing Arab-owned land in Jerusalem to Ateret Cohanim

Haaretz 08:57 20/08/2007

By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) is working together with the Ateret Cohanim association to wrest from Palestinian landowners control of 30 dunams (7.5 acres) of land in East Jerusalem and to transfer it to the association without a tender. Such is the claim outlined in a petition submitted two weeks ago to the High Court of Justice, and appearing in documents which Haaretz has received. Ateret Cohanim promotes settlement of Jews in and around the Old City, and at times takes over Palestinian assets in East Jerusalem so as to "Judaize" that area. The land in question, an olive grove called Kerem Hamufti, is in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. From the documents received, it emerges that the ILA has signed a contract with Ateret Cohanim for "the agricultural cultivation" of the land, even though the association has no experience in such work.

The documents indicate that the contract was signed even though the land that the ILA leased apparently does not belong to it and the Interior Ministry recognizes that the Palestinian landowners "have an interest" in it. A senior source at the ILA has said the contract was signed in order "to keep the territory in Jewish hands." In the petition it is claimed that an authorized official at the ILA "acted to advance the interests of Ateret Cohanim," to prevent the Palestinians who claim ownership of the land from developing it. The petitioners define the ILA action as "corrupt" and are asking the attorney general to investigate "the involvement of Ateret Cohanim in governmental decision-making." In March, 40 years after declaring its intentions to do so, the state formally expropriated the land, at the request of the ILA. Former finance minister Abraham Hirchson signed on the plan to expropriate the property under the rubric of "acquisition for public needs." In its petition to the High Court, the Palestinian landowners, the Arab Hotels Company, asks for the expropriation to be prohibited because it was done "for an extraneous, illegitimate, racist and discriminatory purpose ... An illegitimate and corrupt hand has worked hand in glove with the authorities or other elements to harm the petitioner's rights, and to disinherit the petitioner for purposes of leasing the land to Ateret Cohanim." Kerem Hamufti is named for its former owner, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem. According to Israeli and Jordanian documents, in the 1960s it was purchased by the Arab Hotels Company of East Jerusalem. After the area was annexed to Israel after the Six-Day War, the Finance Ministry stated its intention to expropriate the land "for public purposes," but this was never carried out and the Palestinian owners continued to cultivate it. Several times over the years an Israeli court confirmed that the company is indeed owner of the property. About seven years ago the Palestinian owners submitted to the planning authorities a request to build a hotel, a conference center and a cultural center on the land. Architect Moshe Margalit, who drew up the plan, relates that at the time the District Planning Commission confirmed that the East Jerusalem company has ownership rights to the land. The Interior Ministry confirmed to Haaretz that the company has been allowed to continue the planning as it has been proved that it "has an interest in the land." Municipal blessing From the summaries of meetings concerning the property at the Interior Ministry, it emerges that representatives of the ILA were present, but did not mention they had leased the land to Ateret Cohanim or that it belongs to the ILA. Margalit relates that the Palestinian landowners' plan was presented "to the most senior people at the Jerusalem Municipality" and received their blessing. The petition also states that the mayor of Jerusalem at the time, Ehud Olmert, and his deputy, Yehuda Pollack, the chairman of the Local Planning and Building Committee, supported it. However, at a certain stage, relates Margalit, it seemed that Ateret Cohanim also submitted a plan for this parcel of land: Two years beforehand, the ILA had granted permission to Irving Moskowitz, the American Jewish millionaire who supports Ateret Cohanim, to plan a neighborhood on Kerem Hamufti. A person close to the association aims to build 250 housing units there, and pressured ministers in former prime minister Ariel Sharon's first government to approve it. In June, 2000, immediately after the plan by Moskowitz and Ateret Cohanim was revealed, the landowners' attorneys applied to Jerusalem's Local Planning and Building Committee with a request to dismiss the scheme because "those who submitted it are not the owners of the land." The committee told the attorneys that the plan had been "shelved." A few months ago the Arab Hotels Company received notice from the Magistrates Court, allowing it to evict a Palestinian who was squatting on the land. However, on the day of the eviction, the Amidar company, on behalf of the ILA, filed a demand to stop it. While the ILA and Amidar acknowledge this was indeed a matter of a squatter, a senior source at the ILA has told Haaretz that the Palestinian "was working with Ateret Cohanim." The source explains his presence was necessary "to prevent theft of land by Palestinians." The current petition says the state owns about 20 percent of Kerem Hamufti under the Absentee Property Law, as it belonged to Al-Husseini, who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. However, the Palestinian landowners' lawyers insist that the law does not apply to the property because it was purchased from the Al-Husseini family before Israeli rule began in East Jerusalem in 1967. Attorney Danny Kramer, the representative of the official guardian of absentee property, is also a signatory to the petition, which states that the guardian has no connection to the land, and also that the ILA has been leasing it to Ateret Cohanim "for some years now." In its petition, the Arab Hotels Company argues that the low lease being paid by Ateret Cohanim is proof that this is an "artificial contract." The association is paying NIS 42.5 per dunam (which comes to NIS 1,278 for the entire parcel of land), although it is in a prestigious location. The ILA's official response to Haaretz states that the contract with the Jewish association was signed "more than five years ago"; a senior ILA source says the contract was signed "at the beginning of the 1990s." At the ILA they were not able to explain how the entire plot of land was leased to Ateret Cohanim, despite the fact that even the ILA itself says the state owns only 20 percent of it. The ILA explains the fact that they dealt with the association without a tender by saying "it was the only applicant." Concerning Ateret Cohanim's lack of experience in agriculture, the ILA says: "It is not stipulated anywhere that the minimal condition for submitting an application for cultivation is prior experience." Based on past High Court of Justice rulings saying that if the state does not implement an expropriation order for many years, it's possible to annul it, the Palestinian landowners are asking the court to issue a show cause order, requiring the state to explain why it should not prohibit the expropriation in this case.

Interior Min. increasingly revoking E. J'lem Arabs' residency permits

Haaretz 09:41 24/06/2007

By Shahar Ilan , Haaretz Correspondent
The number of East Jerusalem residents whose permanent residency status has been revoked has surged by more than six times in one year, according to Interior Ministry data made available to the human rights group B'Tselem. The ministry attributes this in part to "growing efficiency." In 2005 the number of residencies revoked stood at 222, while by 2006 the number rose to 1,363. This is the highest number of revoked permanent residency permits since the policy was introduced in 1995. Permanent status grants East Jerusalem residents most of the privileges enjoyed by Israeli citizens. The status can be revoked for taking up residence in the Palestinian Authority or abroad.

The policy of mass revocations has been in place for more than a decade. It began in 1995, toward the end of Eli Suissa's tenure as director of the Jerusalem District at the Interior Ministry. It heightened when he was appointed interior minister in 1996, when his party, Shas, joined the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Suissa was instrumental in making it harder for East Jerusalem residents to acquire construction permits, causing a serious housing shortage among Arabs in the city. This forced many Jerusalem Arabs to seek housing elsewhere, losing their permanent residency status. The peak years of this policy were 1996 (739 permits revoked), 1997 (1,067 permits) and 1998 (788 permits). When Natan Sharansky was interior minister from 1999 to 2000, the number of revoked residence permits dropped, and has leveled at 200 to 300 per year. The Interior Ministry has based its policy of revoking permanent status on a Supreme Court ruling in 1988 by its former president, Justice Aharon Barak. In the case of Palestinian-American psychologist Mubarak Awad, Barak set the precedent on the argument that permanent status - unlike naturalization - "is an expression of the reality of a permanent stay." Barak also noted that when that reality of permanent residence is no longer applicable, the status "cancels itself." In response to a request by B'Tselem, Shalom Benamo, who is in charge of releasing information to the public at the Interior Ministry, said that "most of the [cases] between 2005 and 2006 involved people who immigrated abroad and acquired foreign citizenship." The rest of the cases are the result of individuals living outside Jerusalem for seven years, Benamo said. He also noted that in 2000, in a document that came to be known as "The Sharansky Declaration," any person who has maintained "links" to the city is recognized as retaining permanent status. A single visit to Israel every three years is considered sufficient to maintain links to the city, and therefore permanent residency status. In a B'Tselem question regarding a possible change in the policy and interpretation of the Sharansky Declaration, Benamo said that "there is no fundamental change in the Interior Ministry's policy on this issue. The rise in the number of revocations stems from growing efficiency at the office, and better supervision of borders." B'Tselem demands that the policy of revoking residency status cease, arguing that it breaches international law